This got me wondering…
“Forest spirit? Maybe. He is definitely not human, since he was able to take care of several trained swordsmen with just rocks and wooden sticks.
But seriously, after a second viewing of the film, I actually saw him as a manifestation of Shinrouko’s doubts and/or his wish to be a man free of responsibility. That responsibility of a samurai. When he’s introduced he talks about how being a samurai doesn’t suit him, and although he joins his uncle for the cause, he does it with a sense of regret. I think Koyata is there to remind him that he needs to cast doubts aside and commit to his samurai way if he wants to succeed. In one scene where they talk in the middle of the night, Shinrouko tells him “You’re not a samurai, get out of here” as if he were telling himself “Im not a samurai like my uncle and the rest, so what the hell am I doing here?”
Notice that Koyata interacts with Shinrouko the most. Shinrouko is the one who cuts him down from the net, he’s the one who complains about Koyata hunting rabbits, etc.
And of course, in the scene I mentioned earlier, when Koyata is thinking about his lover, “Upashi”, that’s actually Shinrouko’s wife, Tsuya. Sure enough, I looked it up and the actress is credited as playing both Tsuya and “Upashi”, making me think it’s the same woman since Koyata and Shinrouko is the same person.
And finally, in the final scene Koyata asks him “what are you going to do now?”, as if it were Shirouko’s conscience asking him “well, what do I do with my life now?” WHen he gives him his answer, Koyata replies “Now you’re talking!”, happy that Shinkouro is finally a free man. And finally, Shinrouko says “Say hi to Upashi for me,” and Koyata just looks at him as if saying “So you know who I really am…” and runs away.
Basically, the conclusion I came to was that since Shinkouro survived the ordeal, so did Koyata ’cause they were one and the same. That would mean Shinkouro was the only sole survivor of the warriors after all.”
